Lacking Support?

Rating: 9/10 (10 December 2006)

From seeing this film and from historical accounts, it appears to have been solely a Navy-Army operation. I am not entirely sure of this but this is how it strikes me. Operations in the Pacific were also Navy-Army operations and Navy-Marine operations. I believe at D-Day, the Marines were already using close-air support before many Pacific landings. The Navy was also involved with the use of gunnery as was done at the Normandy landings. It is commented about in the film that Allied Command did not believe the Air Force could do much good because the guns were placed in a position that could best be attacked by the landing forces. However, I feel sure that reconnaissance must have shown much greater detail of the onshore battery emplacements and the locations of German troops. Of course it is easy to make comments with hindsight, but one has to wonder why the earlier, virtually unopposed missions flown by Air Corps pilots in softening up some of the rear areas; why this measure was not applied to the emplacements at the beachfront? Aircraft operating at that time in the European theater included many capable of close-air support as employed by Marine aircraft in the Pacific. I believe it is factual, that only two German aircraft flew one sortie over the beaches that day. Of course the Allies did not know about the placement of enemy aircraft on that given day, but the unopposed earlier missions by aircraft should have been reported and this factor given its proper consideration; seems to me that it dictates the use of the air arm in support of landing troops on the beach. Doubtless if given the amount of close-air support employed by Marine pilots, the number of men lost to hostile fire on the beaches could have been reduced as the enemy forces could have been greatly reduced by fire from aircraft. This action would also have diverted their intentions from defending against landing forces to seeking cover to avoid fire from aircraft. I am not sure when napalm was first employed by the Marines in the Pacific; it might have been later, but can you imagine the devastation that would have caused the enemy along the four beaches the Allied forces landed on?
I would appreciate any comments from more knowledgeable persons on some of the historical events I commented about; also any thought any have as to the validity of my assertions. As I said, hindsight is usually 20/20, but the isolation it seems, of these saving techniques remained principally in the Pacific as I know of no action on the European continent that employed this method of prosecuting war against the enemy. I have to wonder and write this in an effort to understand why it was not employed for the D-Day landings?